Kate Rogers Interviews Dunkin' Brands CEO Nigel Travis On Cold Brew And Competition | CNBC

Indirect Investing in Cryptocurrencies - a path for cautious investors

There are a number of companies who have included cryptocurrencies,aka digital currencies,such as Bitcoin and Ether in their operations in one way or another.Buying stocks of these companies,therefore,is a way for more conservative investors to participate in the cryptocurrency sector as a part of their portfolios.After all,cryptocurrencies are only one aspect of these businesses,and by no means the only thing they have going for them.*
First of all,companies such as Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia are manufacturing graphics cards,or GPUs,that speculators need for discovering currency mining algorithms.These are especially powerful cards,not the general GPUs.*
Online video gaming firm Zynga was an early adopter of Bitcoin transactions.The company had a good Q1 2017 and its stock price had appreciated 44% year to date as of late June.The fact that Zynga accepts Bitcoin makes it an attractive place to play games for the growing crowd of digital currency owners.*
Paypal has formed partnerships with three Bitcoin-based service providers.More and more people want to transact in Bitcoin,so Paypal has positioned itself to help them do just that.*
ARK Web X.O ETF invests primarily in innovative technology firms.The Bitcoin Investment Trust is its largest holding,at 8.8% of its portfolio as of March 2017.Other holdings in the etf include such firms as AthenaHealth,Amazon,Tesla,Netflix,Alphabet (Google) and Facebook.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD),ARK Web X.O ETF (NYSEArca:ARKW),Nvidia Inc (NVID),Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL),Zynga Inc (ZNGA)

The Complex Landscape of Holiday Shopping

It's clear that holiday shopping is no longer greatly concentrated on specific days such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday;but is rather a rolling phenomenon beginning after Halloween,with surge points to be sure,but not as pronounced as in the past.A lot of this is due to the proliferation of mobile devices and the ascendance of digital commerce in general.
Over Thanksgiving weekend,103 million consumers shopped online versus 102 million at brick-and-mortar stores,Prosper Insights&Analytics reported to the National Retail Federation.ComScore reported that digital sales on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday totaled four billion dollars,up 20% on the year,and with desktop and mobile bringing in 25% of all sales.Brick-and-mortar sales for the same two days fell a bit on the year to 12.1 billion.
Hudson's Bay Co. CEO Gerald Storch told CNBC that the Thanksgiving period was a pretty good weekend.In North America,Hudson's Bay owns upscale department stores such as Lord&Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue,as well as their associated outlet stores.
On the negative side of digital,online glitches,especially on mobile,are common bugbears and can devastate a retailer's sales figures as impatient consumers bolt for the exits.A lack of enough machines to handle unexpectedly high traffic or new and complex site construction can lead to this pitfall.
Much of the Internet sales was by retailers practicing omnichannel retailing,coordinating their online and in-store business,Mr.Storch said.Although mobile is growing rapidly,many consumers either do not own appropriate phones or just enjoy the Black Friday in-store experience,keeping brick-and-mortar stores relevant even as online purchases grow.*
Macy's (M),Nordstrom Inc (JWN),Hudson's Bay Co (TSX:HBC),(PINX:HBAYF),Amazon (AMZN)